The Fans
The Fans are a group of friends who try to recreate the conditions of the original ''Hotline Miami'' two years later. They serve as the primary protagonists in ''Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number'', and are used to introduce the new 1991 setting. The severely reduced Russian mob activities in 1991 Miami have left them to aimlessly improvise targets, and they quickly find themselves doing favors for their friends, who often have loose gang connections. The Fans wear personalized animal masks (except for Tony, who seems to have a unique hand-me-down), and have stolen an old Phone Hom van, which they appear to have spray tagged with the 50 Blessings symbol and the word "Attack." The Fans have a total of five missions, giving them more time than any other protagonist in the series outside of Jacket. Members Corey (Zebra) The first of the playable fans. She is extremely agile and has the ability to combat dodge. This allows her roll and dive, becoming temporally invulnerable, rolling under gunfire, avoiding melee attacks and knocking enemies back when entering a room. Corey has shoulder length black hair and wears a Miami Dolphins jacket along with khaki pants and purple knee protectors. She nervously tries to voice concern over going out, but doesn't push hard. She sets up plans (shrugging at blueprints, staking out locations) apparently angling for heightened safety ("Don't forget to stay in touch with walkie talkies!"), and searching for meaning and direction for the group (reading a commemorative San Francisco disaster anniversary newspaper from 1990, "We can't just go out and kill random people now, can we?"). Of all the Fans, she seems to have the least comfort voicing opinions, the most reservations, and the highest concern for safety and planning. Ironically, she's the only one not wearing some kind of heavy slightly bullet proof apparel, likely to heighten agility or to show off her jacket. Her Zebra mask implies she blends in with the group, like what Zebra camouflage does in the wild. TonyTony (Tiger): His punches are lethal, but he cannot -- or rather, doesn't want to -- use any weapons other than his fists. He is able to kill fat enemies by first knocking to the floor and then performing a ground execution, as well as being able to catch dogs mid lunge, albeit with an elongated execution animation. He wears a black t-shirt along with tan body armor and knee pads, and cowboy boots. His mask consists of nature's "danger" colors, red and orange, and may have been a pillaged mask from the first game's "Tension" chapter. He highly values violence and excitement, insisting he's not interested in heroics, being just in it for some action, but he's shown to value his friends too. He's unemployed and has the most caustic temperament of the Fans, and is also the most oriented toward heightening the Fans' killing sprees and media notoriety. Alex (#1) and Ash (#2) (Swans): Sister and brother, respectively; she uses a chainsaw while he uses firearms. The player controls Alex while Ash (ideally) follows close behind, and both characters' attacks are in complete control. They wear green football padding as body armor (with orange shoulder pads for Ash) and Alex wears an orange backpack. Alex is the only one of The Fans to be seen without a mask over the course of the game; her face is a color swap of The Henchman's girlfriend. Alex and Ash can be seen outside the Jacket's trial protesting. It's possible their bird masks are trying to imitate Jacket's chicken mask, and their fluid cooperation parallels swans' reputation as graceful animals. They also work the phones and provide all connections to the jobs via contacts for the group, and both notably commit all their attacks with the aid of technology. Though Ash is a know-it-all technician who maintains the van and views the group's actions as heroic, Alex is a drug user and has a similar attitude to Tony, just being in it for the action (and gore, considering her choice of weapon). These dynamics cause a rift between them. Mark (Bear): Starts with a pair of MP5s. He is able to aim in separate directions by holding down the right mouse button (holding down just the right mouse button will spread the guns horizontally, while holding down the right mouse button and left shift will spread the guns vertically), and has a full magazine of ammo for each gun in reserve. After his ammunition is depleted, he mounts his firearms on his back and reverts to using other weapons normally, effectively giving him a quick-burnout mechanic. He wears a blue shirt and a teal kevlar vest. Much like a bear, Mark has a ferocious opening attack and huge stature but also low endurance and high body fat. He does odd jobs for the group and is the most genuinely friendly and easygoing of the Fans. He also follows movie news. He's somewhat reluctant as he shares in some of Corey's awkward silences, comments that the Fans are like a gang, receives a vision from Richard, and says they can always get pizza if they don't find anything. Events in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number SPOILER WARNING: PLOT DETAILS BELOW 1985 The Fans have a history together as members of the US military during the 1985 Russian occupation of Hawaii. On March 17th, they are shown in the military bar, their Commander being interviewed outside by Evan. On October 25th, they are alluded to as the comparatively unskilled D Company of Delta Squadron, which has apparently sieged the resort stronghold for weeks and encountered heavy losses, as is indicated by the pool full of body bags in the resort. Underground body disposal is again encountered by the Fans in their penultimate mission, where they are noticeably unsettled. Halloween and November, 1991 The Fans have gathered together again in Miami by 1991 and by October 31st they have acquired a hideout and several firearms and stolen a Phone Hom van from a police impound lot. They are first seen at a Halloween party in their hideout, which it seems Corey organized and Alex invited her friends (Hotline Miami 2's soundtrack contributors) to. Alex seems to be socializing but Ash and Tony verbally hate the guests. Mark doesn't seem to mind the party but, noticing Ash and Tony hate it, asks if they're going to "do it." Mark asks if the guns are in the car, prompting an uncomfortable Corey to ask "So, we are actually doing this? ...," which unsettles the easy going Mark but doesn't dissuade Ash's enthusiasm. Alex stops socializing and starts the van. They patrol the streets and find a gang hangout full of exercise equipment, TVs and VCRs, killing everyone inside. Afterward, they pick up several pizzas and Mark pays. The Fans are shown to be only a few degrees removed from the gangs they target, Ash having a friend named Andy at the prior-Russian now-Colombian affiliated chop shop and Alex being a regular drug user. All members have jobs except for Tony. ]]On November 5th, Alex and Ash are the only Fans protesting Jacket's trial. They are also the only protesters actually holding up their signs. Ash is using both hands to steady his sign, while Alex just uses one (possibly indicating Alex is stronger than Ash). On November 11th, the Fans appear in Hank's Bar as an easter egg. Notably, Alex seems to be comforting a heavily drinking Ash, and Tony seems to be gripping his head after also heavily drinking. Corey is backed away from the table shrugging by herself and Mark is also backed away from the table holding a large red bottle, possibly a 2-liter of soda or glass-bottled alcohol. On November 22nd or soon after, the Fans clear out an unaffiliated drug den housing a recently retired Russian Henchman as a "house call" to Ash's friend Andy. The Henchman had cleared out the chop shop Andy worked at on November 21st and spared Andy as an act of mercy. The Henchman's tanned skin may imply he was a member of the Hawaiian occupation (and his car model can be seen in the outro to Stronghold and the first screen of Casualties). The immediate transition to "the jungle" after this mission implies the Fans are reliving their wartime days by executing Henchman. The Henchman death involves every Fan except Tony: * Ash pulls Henchman off the couch and onto a coffee table and loots his cell phone, indicating his setting up jobs and fixation on technology. * Corey bashes in his head with a pipe, bashing in his left eye, which was possibly meant to kill him but was clumsily implemented due to being unsettled by his high ramblings. * Mark steps on and crushes his right hand, using his large weight to crush Henchman's ability to load guns, deliver packages and eat pizza. * Alex stomps and crushes his genitals, emphasizing her focus on gore and ironically macho personality. * Corey again attacks, delivering 3 blows to his exposed brain until it stops pulsating, possibly panickedly trying to get it over with. Early December 1991 On December 2nd, Mark has delivered a new shipment of guns which he is inspecting, there's a box of stolen goods next to their tech table, and a bloodied Gang hoodie is draped on the band stage mannequin. Ash has agreed to help friend Jack get his sister back from a local gang. Ash advertises the place as "full of junkies and lowlifes," to which Mark comments "kinda like this place, huh?" Alex is rolling a joint. Corey is reading a newspaper from April 4th, 1990 on the 1986 San Francisco Bombing (it would also be the one year anniversary of Jacket's first newspaper story), suggesting it has special value for her and the group. Tony is bothered that they're doing "house calls," saying he isn't into "saving women and shit," but he and Alex agree to the job for the action. Upon rescuing Jack's sister they find she was actually staying with the gang willingly, and freaks out that the Fans have murdered all her friends. They leave her behind, the first living witness to their massacres. On their way back, the van breaks down, and Tony agrees to take it to Andy to pay back their favor to him. On December 9th, the hideout is covered with blue prints and marijuana plants. Ash is still tuning up the van from the previous week's break down. Inside it's revealed the Fans have a small amount of media notoriety (likely from Jack's sister contacting the police), which Tony wishes to grow. Alex missed the story and wonders if she could get a tape of it by calling the station and paying "big bucks" for it, which Tony berates her for. Mark reads a newspaper about the controversy surrounding Galaxy Films' upcoming movie, and comments that if they keep doing what they're doing they'll get more news eventually, but Tony and Corey aren't so sure about that. Corey comments that they "can't go out and kill random people now," so Alex suggests they clear out a shed where some creepy weed dealers seemed to keep their stash. Tony again berates her and the suggested job, saying it's just a treasure hunt for more drugs, but Alex insists there's nothing better to do and Mark says they can always get pizza if it turns out to be nothing. They arrive and almost immediately clear out the shed. The player-Fan hears something the other-Fan can't and inspects the sewer access, finding an underground hideout that doubles as body disposal for some small time drug war. Unsettled, the player-Fan clears it out and returns the the van. On December 10th, Manny Pardo visits Alex's apartment (full of musical instruments, a vast assortment of clothes and tech, and a bong), and plants a Miami Mutilator victim's (possibly Jack's) wallet in her home. Her counter top has a newspaper opened to a police confirmation of new masked vigilante killers, which is of interest to both Alex and Pardo. Pardo asks for an Ash Davis, and Alex says that Ash has recently moved out, possibly as a product of her drug habits. Pardo tells her to let him know to contact the Miami PD and leaves. Late December 1991 On December 20th Mark delivers new masks to the Fans, all Richard masks. Corey, Tony, and Alex put them on (in the same order as their Death Wish floors) and are overtaken by Richard who gives their final walkie talkie messages to Mark in the order they'll be made. A flash back to reality reveals the box and new masks weren't real, and Alex tries to answer one of her phones only to realize the call is coming from Ash's cell phone which he pillaged from Henchman. He mentions having recently charged it up at "Dean's" place. He wonders if it's a good idea to answer, but Corey gives him the go ahead, and he trusts her judgment. The call invites them to the newly purchased Russian mob headquarters and gives its address. Corey conducts a two hour stake out, and Ash begins working on the security door. Tony pesters him to hurry up and Ash tells him to can it. The plan of meeting on the roof and jumping over to the other buildings is reiterated; Tony wonders if Mark can make the jump and Mark tells Tony to go fuck himself. They storm the tower with Mark, Corey, Tony, and the Swans each taking separate floors. After each radios in their success, it fades to black and switches to the next floor up. Done with the top floor, the Swans radio in from the roof to no response. Ash checks the walkie talkie and it seems to be working, and they wonder if they should head back inside. Their discussion is cut short when Ash is killed with a bullet to the head. In shock, Alex shouts to the gunman what the fuck he's waiting for and is also killed. ]] Afterward, Detective Manny Pardo finds Corey's zebra mask in blood trail (implying she either crawled or was dragged) leading to a room containing a wounded, surrendering Tony and the unmasked corpses of Mark and Corey. Pardo sees that Tony is still wearing his tiger mask and deduces that Tony is still interested in acquiring notoriety. He then kills Tony with a gunshot to the face and tells the SWAT team Tony came at him and that he had no choice. The events are revisited and given a proper climax at the end of the game, where it's revealed that the Son personally killed each Fan after they radioed in their successes, but merely outwitted and glanced Tony. Bosses As well as the Fans all being playable characters, they are also the final bosses in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, as well as the final bosses of the entire series. They appear in the final level of the game, Apocalypse, where they are all fought as monstrous, anthropomorphic beasts corresponding with each of the Fan's masks. The order in which they are all fought also directly mirrors their order of appearances in Death Wish (as both Death Wish and Apocalypse cover the same events but from different perspectives). Their monstrous forms are the hallucinogenic result of The Son's overdose on his own hallucinogenic designer drug pill product. The Bear The first of the four final bosses. Mark appears as the form of a large bear-like creature, being roughly two times the size of a thug. Upon entering the room, the Son will see Mark supposedly devouring a mobster next to a bag of golf clubs. Mark, bellowing at the Son as he enters the room, will begin to slowly advance towards the player. If the player gets too close to Mark, he will begin charging towards the player. Immediate contact with Mark will kill the player. Mark can only be killed with a golf club if the player runs around him and grabs one from the bag. Mark appears to have run out of ammo by the time of this fight, leaving the Son to best him with a long reaching melee object, emphasizing his lack of range after he "burns out" when playing as him. The Zebra The second of the four final bosses. After being inhaled by the Son's own dialogue-head sprite, he will appear in an empty room with several windows surrounding it and a lone Magnum in the middle of the room. A loud, distorted whinny suddenly shatters all the windows in the room before the beast-form of Corey begins repeatedly galloping through (roll dodging) the room from each outer side, changing her entry point each time. She appears as a zebra wearing her own signature jacket with blood-red eyes. Corey can be easily dispatched by the Son with a single shot from the Magnum, where she explodes into a cloud of blood largely but not entirely covered by her Miami Dolphins jacket. The Tiger The third of the four final bosses. The Son walks into a long hallway which slowly transforms into a jungle-like environment, where a pile of mangled corpses of several of the Son's men lay with a shotgun on top. At the end of the hallway lurks the incredibly large, hulking monstrosity that is Tony, who appears as an anthropomorphic tiger with strong human arms, a black vest and a tiger's back half. Tony will roar at the Son and will slowly disappear behind his lair, apparently trying to intimidate the Son. By backing away and not charging him, the player can cause a frustrated Tony to charge and can then blast him with shotgun pellets, noticeably causing him to evaporate instead of exploding into blood, indicating Tony survived but was glanced. Tony may also be defeated by backing away unarmed and left clicking, but it's unknown whether or not this is a bug. The Swans The fourth and last of the four final bosses. Two gargoyle-like entities fly across the screen as the Son reaches the roof with a fireaxe (in a non-hallucinogenic reality, he wields a magnum). Walking up to the helipad causes the two creatures to merge and create a huge twin headed swan, representing Alex and Ash. The creature will let out a screech before attacking the player. The head on the left is Ash while the head on the right is Alex. Alex will lunge forward at the player in an attempt to bite them in half, while Ash backs up Alex by spitting out fire bolts at the player. The body itself will float around above the player. Attempting to walk beyond past the monster's body while both heads are in tact will cause Ash to bombard the player with several fire bolts, guaranteeing the death of the player. It is preferable to take out Alex first, then take out Ash, both of which only needing single swings of the fireaxe. Destroying the two heads will cause the swan-beast's body to explode into a huge bloody mess and ray of colors. The Son will then approach what appears to be the Rainbow Bridge to Valhalla at the edge of the building, and walk across into a rainbow void, when in reality, he is falling to his death. This will trigger the end of the game and the credits. Trivia * Each mask has its own specific owner, as opposed to one individual having all the masks at once. * According to Dennis Wedin, each fan has their own point of view and motivations. He has also said that the fans symbolize those who wanted Hotline Miami 2 to be the same as the original. * When Alex is killed in gameplay, Ash will surrender. * According to a conversation between Ash and Tony regarding their van, Tony is the only one of the Fans who is unemployed. * Alex regularly smokes marijuana, and can be seen rolling a joint in the intro to Moving Up. * Mark is named after a community bear mask of the same name first released in Payday 2 * During the level Ambush, The Fans can be seen near the bar, suggesting a past in the military. * According to Dennis Wedin in a Reddit AMA, the Van the Fans own, was stolen from a police evidence parking lot. * Mark's boss form is, ironically, the smallest of all of the Fans' boss forms in the final level despite Mark being the largest of the group. * There is a glitch in the area where Tony is fought in Apocalypse where the player can walk outside of the boundaries of the walls by walking into the fourth bush along the southern wall. It appears as though there is a gap in the wall hidden behind the bush. *The Swans may have been originally intended to be ducks, as their masks resemble that of ducks in the Hotline Miami 2 teaser trailer. Category:Hotline Miami 2 characters Category:Hotline Miami 2 bosses Category:Hotline Miami 2 playable characters Category:Boss Category:Playable characters Category:Enemy Category:Hotline Miami 2 enemies Category:Factions